The inventive concept relates to methods of manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to methods of manufacturing a semiconductor device including a process of forming micro pitch patterns exceeding a resolution limitation of existing exposure equipment by using processes including a triple patterning process.
Micro patterning is indispensable in manufacturing a highly integrated semiconductor device. An individual device needs to be as small as possible in order to integrate many devices in a narrow area. To this end, a pitch that is a sum of a width of each of the patterns to be formed and a space between the patterns needs to be small. As a design rule of a semiconductor device rapidly decreases, there is a limit to forming micro pitch patterns at least due to a resolution limitation of a photolithography process for forming a pattern necessary for achieving the semiconductor device. A multiple patterning technology that has been proposed up to now to manufacture a highly scaled and integrated semiconductor device increases the number of layers used for multiple patterning, which generally creates a complicated process and increases the processing cost. Accordingly, there is a need for a multiple patterning technology capable of forming micro patterns exceeding the resolution limitation of the photolithography process at a simple and/or relatively low processing cost while reducing a number of times of applications of the photolithography process.